Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

Remarks on Books:

V. Shulyatikov.The Justification of Capitalismin West-European Philosophy.(From Descartes to E. Mach).Moscow, 1908

Written not earlier than 1908.Published in 1937 inthe magazineProletarskayaRevolyutsia, No. 8Published accordingto the original.

V. SHULYATIKOV.THE JUSTIFICATION OF CAPITALISMIN WEST-EUROPEAN PHILOSOPHY(FROM DESCARTES TO B. MACH)

[5][1]...Inintellectualcircles a traditional atti-

tude has been established towards philosophy....Philosophical ideas are presented with too littleand too feeble connection with any sort of classsubstratum....

Very many Marxistsadhere to the same view.They are convinced that a variegated medley ofphilosophical views is permissible in the ranksof the proletarian vanguard, that it has no greatsignificance whether ideologists of the proletariatprofessmaterialism or energeticism, neo-Kantian-ism or Machism....

[6]...To maintain such a viewpoint meansfallinginto a naïve, most grievous error.... Withoutexception, all philosophical terms and formulas

used by it[2]...serve|it|to denote social classes,groups, sections and their mutual relations.When

dealing with the philosophical system of this or

that bourgeois thinker, we aredealingwith a pic-ture of the class structure of society,depicted by

means of conventional symbols and reproducingthe social profession de foi of a definite bourgeoisgroup....

[7]...These pictures must not be accepted asbeing something that could he utilised and broughtinto line with the proletarian world outlook. Thatwould meanfalling into opportunism, trying tocombine what cannot be combined....

... the firstbrilliantattempt at this sort of re-

appraisal took place as far back as several yearsago. Comrade A. Bogdanov's article "Authoritarian

Thought"[3]undoubtedly opens up anew era

in the history of philosophy: after the appearanceof this article, speculative philosophy lost the rightto employ its twofundamental concepts of "mind"and "body"; it was established that these concepts

were formed against the background ofauthoritar-ianrelations and the antithesis between them

reflected a social antithesis-the antithesis of theorganising "top strata" and the executive "lowerstrata." With amazing consistency bourgeois criticsignored the work of the Russian Marxist....

[8]...In these circumstances, asocial and genet-ic analysisof philosophical concepts and system

is not only desirable, but definitely necessary.

It is a task which isextremely difficult and com-plicated.... Contemporaryfashionablesystems, e.g.,

neo-Kantianism or Machism....

[9-10]...Our essay isnot intended for a limited

circle of experts....Demosis revealing an interest

in philosophy... our exposition is ofa somewhatelementary character.... The viewpoint we are

defending .... can be more easily mastered if illustrat-ednot by unwieldy, but by economically selectedmaterial....

[11]...Economic inequality arose; the organis-ers were gradually transformed into the owners ofthe instruments of production,[4]which had oncebelonged to society....

[11-12]...Production relations of|"authoritar-

ian"|society... The primitive||savage||every-where begins to see the manifestation oforganisa-torywill"...the executor is accessible to external

senses-this is the physiological organism, the bo-dy; the organiser is not accessible to them,he ispresumed inside the body; this is the spiritualpersonality..."

[13]...The concept of the mind acquires an in-creasingly abstract character.

[14]...When in the history ofGreekphilosophythe famous question was raised: How is it possiblefor the multifarious transient phenomena of thematerial world to have been derived from pure,immutable, non-material substance? What is therelation of "being" to "becoming"?-it was not,contrary to the assertions of all kinds of historiansof philosophy, thehighest flight of noble humanthought, a most altruistic effort aimed at solvingthe greatest mystery of the universe and therebygiving joy to the human race for all time. Thematter was much simpler! To frame the questionin that manner merely pointed to the fact thatin the Greek towns the process of social stratifica-

tionhad gone a long way,that the gulf betweenthe "upper" and the "lower" strata of societyhadbecome deeper, and the old ideology of the organis-ers, corresponding to less differentiated social

relations, had lost its right to existence. Earlier,in spite of all the distinctions between substance

and the world of phenomena, the direct connectionbetween them had not been doubted. Now, the

existence of this connection is denied.Substanceand the world of phenomena are declared to beincommensurable magnitudes.Relations betweenthem are only possible through a series of inter-mediary links. Or, in more philosophical language,we cannot establish their reciprocal relationseither by means of the senses or by means ofordinary thought:to do so requires the assistanceof some special "idea," some special intuition.

[15]...This very question-the question of theincommensurability of the mental and material"principles," of the absence of a direct connectionbetween them, was put forward and solved by theoriginators of thenew philosophy....

[16]...The spiritualistic sympathies of the Re-naissance and subsequent epoch are usually men-tioned in passing, but they are very character-istic.[5]

[17]...The medieval artisan, while being anorganiser, at the same time fulfilled executivefunctions-he worked together with his appren-tices. The bourgeois manufacturer knows only onetype of function: he is purely an organiser. In thefirst case, it is true, a basis is provided for that

dualistic "mode of presenting the facts" explainedby Comrade Bogdanov;nevertheless, the anti-

thesis of organiser and executor is somewhatveiled.Hence the corresponding antithesis ofmental and corporeal, active and passive, prin-ciples, in the sphere of ideology, could not takea sharp form....

[17]...In the worskhop of the medieval artisanthere was no place for representatives of so-called

untrained, unskilled labour. Work is found forthem in the manufacturing workshop. They consti-tute the "lower stratum." Above them are otherstrata, other groups of workers, each differingaccording to the degree of skill. Among themcertainorganisinglayers are already formed. Going

further up the ascending scale, we see groups ofadministrators and technical managers of theenterprises.The owner of the enterprise is thus

"freed" not only from every kind of physical labour,but also from many purelyorganisationalduties....

{19]...In contrast to the medieval thinkers, the

"fathers" of the new philosophy devotevery muchattention in their systems to the world of transientphenomena,make a detailed study of its structure

and development, the laws governing the relationsbetween its parts; theycreate a natural philosophy.The very same "elevated" position of the leadersof the manufacturing enterprises which inspired inthe fathers of the new philosophy the "pure" idea

of organising will, suggested to them, similarly,a mechanicalexplanation of the processes of mate-rial reality, i.e., the processes taking place amongthe organised mass.

The point is that the leader of the manufactur-ing enterprise is merely the final link in a fairly

long chain of organising links. In relation to him,the other organisersare subordinate and, in turn,

stand in opposition to him as organised persons....But insofar as their role differs from that of thechief leader, insofar as it consists in taking partin the technical work from which the chief leaderis "freed," to that extent their "mental" characteris blurred andtheiractivity is appraised as activity

of"matter"....

[21-22]...The bourgeois system in general isa two-faced Janus.... True, we find a definiteformulation of dualism only in Cartesianism,-in the system createdjust at the dawn of the neweconomic era; true, subsequent philosophicalsystems, beginning with that ofSpinoza, declarethat the Cartesian counterposing of God and theworld, of mind and body, is contradictory. ...Thematerialist and positivist systems of bourgeoisphilosophy, in turn, by no means testify to atriumph over the dualistic viewpoint.The differ-

ence between bourgeois metaphysics and thebourgeois "positive world outlook" is not as greatas it may appear at first glance. ...The attack

made by materialism is not directed against thefundamental premiseput forward by metaphysics;the concept of theorganising will is not done awaywith by materialism.It merely figures underanother name: for example, "force" takes the placeof "spirit"....

[22-23]...In the seventeenth century, at the timeof its "storm and stress," the English bourgeoisiepreached the doctrinethat everything in theworld should be explained as a motion ofmaterialparticles taking place from mechanical necessity.The English bourgeoisie were laying thefounda-

tions forlarge-scalecapitalist economy....Theyimagined the wholeworld in the form of an organisa-tion of material particles united in accordancewith immanentlaws....

[23-24]...In the second half of the eighteenthcentury, the French bourgeoisieflooded the bookmarketwith similar treatises.... But we knowwhat is meant by the internal structure of enter-prises: it is the realm of matter and mechanical

processes.Hence the generalisation: man is a ma-chine, nature is a machine....

...The motion of matter is conditioned by itself,or rather by its own force (Holbach).The organisa-tory will, it is seen, has again become extremelytransformed, but its presence is noted and isadmitted to be absolutely essential.

The manufacturers did not act as revolution-ary representatives of"Sturm und Drang"....

[25]...The organisedrequirean organiser....

[26]...The intermediary organisatory links-

"individual minds" can only fulfil their organising

role if there exists a superior organisatory centre.Only the latter brings them into contact with theproletariat-"matter"-within the framework ofan organised whole, a manufacturing workshop....

[27]...The Cartesian concept of man is nothingbut the further propagation of a definite form ofthinking, "a definite mode of presenting the facts,a definite type of their union in the psyche."

We have seen that theworldin Descartes' systemis organised on the lines ofa manufacturing enter-

...We are dealing with thecult of mental labour.

[28]...I am an organiser and, as such, can existonly by fulfilling organisatory and not executivefunctions:this is the meaning of the Cartesian

assertion, if it is translated into the language ofclass relations....

...The common, naïve viewpoint sees the externalworld as it appears through the prism of thesenses....

[29]...The concept of the worker as merelya saddler or merely a paper-hanger gives way to the

concept of the worker in general.Trade no longerconstitutes the "essence" of labour-power....

[31]...Time,Descartes explains, must not bea property ofmatter: it is "amodeofconsideredthinking," a generic concept created by the latter....

[32-33]...Henceforth philosophy isthe faithfulservant of capital....The revaluation of philo-

sophical values was determined bychanges in theorganising upper strata and organised lower strata.

New organisers, new organised-new concepts ofGod and spirit, new concepts of matter....

[37]...All relations between mind and body areonly through God. All relations between theintermediary organisatory links and the organisedmass are only with the sanction of the supreme organiser!...

...The motion of matter and the activity of themind are only two aspects ofone and the sameprocess.There can be no question of any interaction

between mind and matter.

[41]...Experience, sensuous perception, is forhim an imperative condition for cognising things....

[42]...But ... when Spinoza died, as is wellknown,the fine fleur of the Dutch bourgeoisiewith great pomp accompaniedthe hearse thatcarried his remains. And if we become more closelyacquaintedwith his circle ofacquaintances andcorrespondents, we again meet with the fine fleur

of the bourgeoisie-and not only of Holland butof the entire world. ...The bourgeoisie reveredSpinoza,their bard.

Spinoza's conception of the world is thesongof triumphant capital, of all-consuming, all-cen-tralising capital. There is no being, there are no

things, apart from the single substance; there canbe no existence for producers apart from the large-scale manufacturing enterprise....

[45] Leibnitz's God isthe owner of an exemplar-

ily organised enterprise and is himself the supremeorganiser....

[51]...Hobbes' materialism corresponded to theSturm-und-Drang period of the English capitalistbourgeoisie. The way was paved for manufacture,     1)

quieter times began for the manufacturers: Hobbes'materialism gave place to the half-hearted systemof Locke.The further consolidation of the position2)of manufacture determined the possibility of anti-materialist utterances.3)

[56]..."The attraction and repulsion of workersshould take placewithout any obstacles": inperceptual complexes there are decidedly noabsolute elements.Everything is relative.

[61]...His kinship to all the thinkers who appear

in the foregoing chapters is beyond doubt....

The position ofphilosophical scepticism adopted

by Hume corresponds precisely to such a conceptionof the capitalist organism.

[81]...There arise systems of so-calledobjectiveidealism....

ⅹ[88]...objective idealists....

[94]...But we know that in all the systems ofbourgeois philosophy "matter" is regarded as thesubordinate principle(even by the materialists

who, we repeat, note its subordinate position byintroducing theconcept of "force")....

[98]...It is merely one step from Fichte's anti-thetical method and Schelling's potentialisingtheory toHegel's dialectics.And in regard tothe latter, after all that has been said in thischapter about the antithetical method, it onlyremains for us to make a few supplementary re-

marks.We have already made clear the "realbackground" of dialectics.

Hegel merely more fully substantiated thetheory of development through "contradictions,"

which had been outlined bytwoother objectiveidealists....

[98-99]...The innovation made by Hegel em-phasises the following fact from the sphere of

"real"relations. The differentiation of functionsand roles inmanufacturereaches its maximum.A|stratification|takes place of each separateexecutive group and each separate organisinggroup. The functions belonging to any one definitegroup are distributed among various, newly-formed

groups. Each group breaks up and new groups areformed from it. And the ideologist of the manufac-turers considers this breaking-up process to be the

process of theinternal developmentof this or that"principle"....

[100]...Speculative philosophy loses prestigein

bourgeois society. True, this does not occur allat once.But neither did the machine conquerthe territory of industry all at once....

[101]...How can the positive nature of thenew ideological systems be explained? By the

|||simple|||law of contrasts, the simple endeavour"to do the opposite" of what constituted the "symbolof faith" of yesterday?...

Individualised "complexes"-Ivan, Peter, Jacobvanish. In their place there appears in the work-

the worker in general. "Matter" is given backthe qualities that were expropriated from it....

[102]...Matter is rehabilitated.Bourgeois so-ciety introduces the cult of the new idol-"environ-ment. True, in doing so, the fact is not lost sight

of that nevertheless matterremains matter, i.e.,the organised mass, and, as such, cannot existwithout a "manager." And "force," as a specialistin organisatory duties, is assigned to matter.Trea-tises about Stoff und Kraft ("matter and force") arewritten....

[104] A comparison between the most recentorganisation of the factories and the internalstructure of manufacture already a priori dictatesthe reply:the new variety of bourgeois philosophyshould reproduce substantial features of the philos-ophy of the manufacturing epoch....

[106] Neo-Kantianism gives way to a"turn"towards systems of "pre-Kantian" thought.

[108]..."the object can never be separated from theidea, or the idea from the object...."

[113]...The considerations that have been givenare already sufficient to define Wundt clearlyas a philosopher whosets himself the task ofcombating materialismor, to use the fashionableterm, of "Überwindung des Materialismus," "over-coming materialism," and who, in so doing, does

not declare himself to be on the side of the schoolwhich is regarded as the traditional opponent ofmaterialism....

[114]...Such an equalisation of theintermediaryorganising linksand representatives of "physical"labour, the "lower executives," is indicated in the

sphere of philosophy precisely by the endeavourto characterise "subject" and "object," "psychical"and "physical," as comprising an "indivisible"whole, the endeavour to reduce the antithesisbetween the phenomena mentioned to a cognitive

fiction. Avenarius' theory on principal coordina-

tion, Ernst Mach's theory on the relation of thepsychical and physical, Wundt's theory on ideas-objects-these are all theories of the same order....

[116]...Hitherto, Wundt's|monist|viewscould not be denied a certain consistency.Norcan he any more be suspected of idealist sym-pathies....

[118]...Wundt takes just such a leap when, onthe heels of his theory on "ideas-objects", he putsforward his views on "psycho-physical parallel-ism"....

[121]..."Attributes" are transformed into "se-ries," but this reform, in essence, is more of a verbalcharacter....

[123]...Primacy is asserted for the spiritualprinciple....

[123-124]...Everything corporeal has necessarily

its psychical correlation.No singleworker, howeversimple the function he fulfils, can produce anyproducts, can find any application for his labour-power, can exist, without his being under thedirect, detailed "guidance" of a definite organiser....

...But thepsychicalseries constitutes the "orga-nisers," and the "concomitance" of the latter signi-fies for the"physical series"-for the workers-nothing but dependence....

[128]...Thus, according to Wundt, philosophyshould transcend the bounds of experience, "supple-ment" the latter. The philosophical analysis needsto be continued until we obtain the idea ofa unitywhich embraces both series that are independentof each other. Having expressed this view, Wundtimmediately hastens to make an important reserva-tion for himself: he declares that we can conceiveof the unity of the worldeitheras a material unity

oras a mental unity: a third solution of theproblemdoes not exist....

[129]...Wundt refuses to give the name substanceto his idea of universal unity. He defines itasthe idea of pure reason, i.e., in the Kantian sense.Just as Kant's God is the idea of the supreme"forming," non-substantial principle, so alsoWundt'suniversal unityis the idea of non-sub-stantial unity, thanks to which all phenomenaacquire vital meaning, indisputable value. In thelight of this idea, there disappears the "empty andcheerless" philosophy which sees in the outwardorder of phenomena, in their mechanical connec-tion, the true essence of the latter. In its placewe obtain the viewof the cosmic mechanism asthe external covering of spiritual activity andcreation....

[130]...In this connection, Wundt stronglyemphasises the element ofactuality.He reducesthe idea of universal unity, of the "foundation ofthe world," to the idea of auniversal will....

[131]...We shall not enter on an analysis of

his proposed formulation, nor shall we explainhis theory of "voluntarism"....

...Consequently, the ideologists of the modernvanguard of the capitalistbourgeoisie cannot

speak of any "permanent" organised principlesbut, on the contrary, have to describe the latter as

something extremely changeable, something thatis eternally in a state of motion....

[133]...Wundt's criticism had no crushing

force;itstruck at an imaginary target.Wundt's

appearance on the scene and the subsequent reac-

tion from the camp of Avenarius'[6]disciplesdid

not signify a conflict between the philosophiesof two different classes or two large groups of oneand the same class. The socio-economic backgroundof the philosophical contest in question was, in

this case, thecomparatively insignificant difference

between the most advanced and the somewhat lessadvanced types of modern capitalist organisa-tions....

[134]...We should say more: the empirio-critic-

al philosophy should be understoodprimarily asan apologiafor the idea in question.The conceptof functional dependence is adenialof causaldependence....

[135-136]...Heffding's conclusion must, in gen-eral,be considered correct.Only his reference to"motives of expediency" is unfortunate: thesemotives are vague and indefinite.

Avenarius, in this case, was merely makingaconcession to materialist phraseology, a conces-

sion determined by his social position. ...To many

people the views of the "parallelists" might appearto be materialistin comparisonwith vulgar spiri-

tualism.The sameapplies to the views of empirio-

criticism. The possibility of their coming closeto materialism is particularly strong.... And widesections of thereadingpublic have formed theopinion that empirio-criticism is a materialistschool of thought. More than that, even expertphilosophers judge it erroneously: Wilhelm Wundthimself,the patriarchof modern philosophy,calledit "materialism".Finally, what is most interestingof all, the empirio-critics, too,while dissociatingthemselves from materialism, at the same timesometimesuseits terminology, and sometimeseven begin as it were to waver in their anti-material-ist views....

[137]...Such is the real background that inspiredempirio-criticism with the idea of classifyinghuman cognition on the basis of the principle of"biological" classification.But this sort of "biol-ogy," we repeat, has nothing in common withmaterialism...

[138-139]...dualism-according to Avenarius-is the fruit of a certain process of our abstractingthought-"introjection"....

But the antithesis of the "external" and "inter-nal" world is the purest fiction.

An analysis of this antithesis is extremelyimportant; it should lead to substantiating themonist world outlook. Commentators of Avenarius'system of philosophy strongly stress this point."By exposing the impermissibility of introjection,"one of them says,[7]"two aims are achieved...."

[140]... the subordinate organiser, if his "abso-lute" viewpoint is adopted, i.e., if he is regardedas an organiser independent of the "will" controll-ing him, is confronted also merely by a "thing,"or "body," in the shape of the workers. But let ustake another case: for the supreme "will," thesubordinate organiser is not only one who is orga-nised, but one who organises.... The former "object,"

now converted into "subject," "organises" matter:man assimilates a tree, but a tree transformed, the"notion" of tree....

[141-142]..."the fullness of human experience"is also proved in Avenarius' theory ofprincipalco-ordination....

...In Avenarius, like in Wundt, the "series"turn out, in essence, to be "incommensurable."And instead of thematerialist world outlookthat one would expect after the categorical state-ments about "the fullness of experience," viewsare expressed testifying to theidealistsympathiesof empirio-criticism...

But Wundt and Avenarius part company onthe road of idealist constructions. The author ofThe System of Philosophyreveals a fancy for"Kantian" motives. The author ofThe Human

Concept of the Worldproclaims viewswhich bringhim close to the position once taken by Berkeley.

Let us hasten to make a reservation. We do notat all intend to assert that the works of the Bishopof CloynedeterminedAvenarius' viewpoint, thatthey had adirectinfluence on him. But the simi-larity of the idealist positions of both philosophersis indubitable.The afore mentioned theory of

principal co-ordination, taken as a whole, is evi-dence of this similarity.

With the same straightforwardness as Berkeley,Avenarius presents the thesis that there are noobjects outside the subject. Each "thing" mustnecessarily "be related" to the central nervous system,which plays the role of functional centre....

[144]...The supreme "leader" does not figure,

not even in the shape of the Kantian idea of reason,Kant's "form," or in the shape of Wundt's "univer-sal unity." Nevertheless, he is there, and is moreoverthe chief element of the philosophical system.All phenomena are regarded preciselyfrom his

point of view.His "invisible" presenceis postulated

by the unusually high appraisal of the organisatoryprinciple, presented parallel with the conceptionof organised organisers. And in thegeneralpictureof the world resulting from Avenarius' philosophic-al discourses, it is precisely the organisatory

character ofthe organising factorsthat comes

into the forefront....

For Avenarius the world represents an agglom-erate of central nervous systems. "Matter" isabsolutely deprived of all "qualities," whethera "primary" or "secondary," which at one time wereconsidered its inalienable property. Absolutelyeverything in matter is determined by the "spirit"or, to use the terminology of the author of the

Critique of Pure Experience, bythe central nerv-ous system....

[145]The viewpoint of idealism in the styleof Berkeleyis put forward with great consistency

by the author of theCritique of Pure Experience....

[146]...Mach's theoryof the "ego" as a logicalsymbol....

Mach, like Avenarius, knows two "series"-thepsychical and the physical(two kinds of combina-tions of elements). As with Avenarius, theseseries are incommensurable and at the same timerepresent nothing but afiction of our thought.Alternately, the monist and the dualist viewpointis put forward: alternately the intermediary orga-nisatory links are described as the organised, and

as the organising principle. And, as with Avena-rius, in the final analysis the dictatorship of "theorganisatory will" is proclaimed.An idealisticpicture of the world is drawn: the world is a com-plex of "sensations."

[147]...Mach's objection cannot be called valid.The central concept of his philosophical system,thefamous"sensation,"is by no means a denial

either of the organisatory principle or of thesupreme organisatory principle.... Mach was prompt-ed in his criticism of the conception of the "ego"

bythe view of the subordinate organisers as theorganised "mass"....

[148-149]...Besides dealing with the specula-tive constructions of Wundt, Avenarius andMach, we could, for example, subject to analysisthe views of such prominent representatives of

modern West-European philosophy asRenouvier,BradleyandBergson.

The sphere of philosophy is averitable"Bastil-le"of bourgeois ideology.... It is necessary to bear

in mind that, for their part, the bourgeous ideolo-gists are not sleeping, but are strengthening theirposition. At the present time, they, are even im-bued with the conviction that their position isabsolutely impregnable.The "idealist" sympathiesof certain literary writers who take their standunder the banner of Marxism,in turn, createparticularly favourable soil for such a convic-tion....

XI. Wundt|Ostwald|. . . .107|not in the book

[1]The page references are to Shulyatikov's book.-Ed.

[2]philosophy.-Ed.

[3]Included in the symposium of his articles "From the Psychology of Society."-Lenin

[4]In the present case, we disagree somewhat with the explanations proposed by comradeBogdanov. He does not attach to this last circumstance the importance it undoubtedly had; he does not even advance it. We had occasion to speak about this question elsewhere "From the History and Practice of the Class Struggle" (in the chapters devoted to the genesis of the ruling classes). Edition of S. Dorovatsky and A. Charushnikov.-Lenin

[7]Rudolph Wlassak;quoted by Mach inThe Analysis of Sensation, p. 52.-Lenin